From Chidi Nnadi, Enugu

Related News

An ardent follower of President Muhammadu Buhari and Chief of Staff to Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Chief Uche Nwosu, has expressed optimism that the current recession that has hit the country would soon fade away.
The frontline All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Imo State, in this exclusive interview with Daily Sun, pointed out that many countries in the advanced world had gone through recessions and came out from it, urging Nigerians to be patient with Buhari.
Nwosu also took the former governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, to the cleaners over his letter to Okorocha, which he said made no sense.
You have always believed that President Buhari will fix Nigeria, but today, the country is in recession; people are hungry; there is hardship everywhere, to the extent that some people are calling for his resignation. Do you think that things will be better again in this country under Buhari?
Yes, from the beginning, I strongly believe that President Buhari will fix this country. And there is nobody who saw where Nigeria was going, before Buhari came in, that did not know the country was heading for doom. Those who are calling for Buhari’s resignation are the same people that brought us to where we are today. And when we talk about recession, major countries, like US, Britain and many others have gone into recession but they came out strongly. Recession does not mean that the country has gone completely. It brings out the strong part of a country.
In Nigeria, for example, the problem we have was caused by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). If the PDP was able to manage the country very well for 16 years, we wouldn’t have this problem. Take for example, what is happening today. Billions and billions of naira were looted. Some were used for campaigns; some taken into private pockets. Are these monies not Nigeria’s money? Most of them are saying Buhari should resign. Why should Buhari resign? Is it because the man was open and told Nigerians why we are having this problem? On the issue of recession, it is a challenge we have to take and it was caused by the PDP. This recession had shown signs before Buhari took over from President Jonathan. Any country that goes into recession, the people will go back to re-strategise, but here the PDP government made Nigerians to believe that every day was for enjoyment. I had said it before; it is better for us to suffer today and enjoy tomorrow, than we will enjoy today and our great-great grand children will suffer because of the hardship we brought to this country. The recession will not last; it will not take time and the country will bounce back to its normal position.
Buhari, I believe very well, is the only man that can fix the country. Remember that Buhari ran for the presidency for the first, second, third and fourth time. If God Himself knows that Buhari would not fix the country, Buhari would have failed. God knows the reason he brought him at this time. So, I think Buhari is the messiah Nigerians need at this time to put this country back on the right track; so by the time he is done with this country, people will be clapping hands for him.
When will this tomorrow you want Nigerians to wait for be, because there are no indications that things are going to be better any time soon? What is the time frame?
Of course, things are going to be better soon. In a country, you don’t say from now till the next five years, but the projection is that sooner than later things will be better. Remember that Nigeria is a country going into a serious doom caused by the previous government. So, it will take President Buhari a little time to fix it. Now, do you hear about Boko Haram again? It has been sorted out. Do you hear about corruption in federal ministries again? We are on it. Do you hear that politicians amass money and buy property abroad? No politician wants to do that; they are all afraid. These are the areas the man is dealing with. So, we should give him time to get all the sectors of the economy right. Did you believe that today we will sit and there will be no constant bombing by Boko Haram? Did we believe that today people will be afraid of collecting bribe in ministries? That you will go to federal ministries now and you will submit your file and within 24 hours, you will have result?
So, we should give him time; let this man get the country right. The problem is that we Nigerians are always in a hurry. We need it now. We don’t even want a small pain in our body. We just want to enjoy all the time, from the beginning to the end. Even nature itself has it that there are times to laugh, times to cry, times to enjoy and times not to enjoy. What we are going through now is time not to enjoy. This time not to enjoy was brought about by the PDP; and there will be time to enjoy, which even Bible also said.
Agreed that President Buhari has suppressed the activities of the Boko Haram, but when you come to the Niger Delta, where militancy had gone, we have seen it return again. Do you think the president has done enough to ensure militants are checked, like in the past?
The president is doing a lot to stop militancy in the Niger Delta. Remember he has set up a lot of committees. President Buhari is a man that comes with peace first. He had told them that the Federal Government was ready to negotiate with them, that they should come out from the creeks and handover their weapon, which I believe is the best option. Remember also, he did that to Boko Haram and asked them to surrender; he gave them time, but they refused and today you have seen the consequences. I think it is a good opportunity for the militants to come out and then outline what they need in the Niger Delta. And, therefore, ask the president to help address them. Buhari has already shown that he wants to do something for Niger Delta. Look at what is happening in Ogoni. For years, the cleaning of Ogoni was made a thing for politics. Immediately President Buhari came in, he ordered the cleaning of the entire Ogoni land. So, this is a man that has the interest of his people at heart. So, the militants should hear the Federal Government and come out to negotiate with it and all these things will be sorted out. They should know that President Buhari is a man of peace. But if you say you don’t need peace, he is ready to confront you in order to keep the unity of this country intact.
Let’s come back to Imo State. There was this letter written by the former governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, to Governor Rochas Okorocha, that caused ripples in the state. Ohakim, in the letter, said there was anger in Imo caused by some of the activities of the present administration, particularly the demolition of property and execution of contracts, where culverts were used instead of bridges. He also said the expansion of the roads was outside the original master plan. Can we know the actual position of things?
First of all, I am really disappointed in the former governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim. When he said that people are angry, I think it is only him that is angry. You know when a man is defeated, he’s angry. I think he is the person that is angry; no other person in Imo is angry. I wouldn’t expect the former governor to speak on developmental projects in Imo State, which he did not even deem fit to do.
He made mention of the Nworie River, during his administration. N8 billion was given for the dredging of River Nworie (by NDDC) and nothing happened. During his time, did he not know that it was important to do first, third, fourth mainland roads to connect new Owerri to old Owerri and he said it was culverts? Ask him why he didn’t do his own culverts? You know, when somebody is already down and some other person is up, he will try to draw the person standing down too. He made mention of demolition. I was Commissioner for Lands. I challenge the former governor to come, so I will show him where the original setbacks of Orlu Road are. He was a former governor; he should have known where the setback of that road is; that is the first thing he should have done; to go and find out.
What Governor Okorocha did was to demolish fences; that was why most of the demolitions you saw were kiosks and small shops people built on the setback, no major building was affected. If you go to Orlu Road, no major building that was there right from the master plan of Imo State was demolished. You can go there yourself, start from the Amakohia flyover and see where the original fence was, from the left hand side to the right hand side. But, of course, we need to get this state right. Will I be happy that in the next 10 years, people will start building on a major road? It will not be good for the state. So, when former Governor Ikedi Ohakim made his allegations, as a former governor, I thought he should have been well-informed of the situation in the state. Development in a state is not something you put sentiments; even some buildings owned by Governor Okorocha went down in Orlu during the construction there; an entire building of his went down in Orlu. What I expected former Governor Ohakim to tell us is what he did as governor. He was there, did he deem it fit to think we deserved new general hospitals, as he mentioned? He said the hospital will not function. Why didn’t he do one? He built 27 schools, very small, four classrooms, while the present state government built 305, one in each ward.
Former Governor Ohakim didn’t deem it fit that every ward should have a school. He talked about the road he did in Owerri city. He just did Yar’Adua Road and then put demarcation on Okigwe Road, to say the road was dualised and that was the only road. Did he build any market? Has he gone to Relief Market? Has he gone to Orlu? Has he gone to Okigwe? I think he should have taken his time to go to some of these places before taking up his pen to write. Whoever advised him to do that misled him; and the earlier he knows that Governor Okorocha is not his match, the better for him.
I heard that he said he had stepped aside from politics, and yet he is still talking about politics. I think we should not start joining issues with him. Let him go to the field and see things for himself. Let him go to Concord Hotel. He knows how he left Concord Hotel. Has he ever gone to that hotel and seen how Concord Hotel he left with rats and rodents is now? Has he gone to Imo State Trade and Investment Centre, the popular Ohiajoku Centre he commissioned uncompleted? Has he ever passed there and seen how Ohiajoku Centre is now? Has he ever seen Imo International Conference Centre? He used to pass that road then and the place was covered with bushes. Did he ever think that there would be a road that could cross from there to Emmanuel College? And he was happy cruising as a governor, blowing his siren inside the city with grasses and trees grown everywhere. He should not allow us to remind Imolites how he mismanaged the state for four years.
My former governor, please what I want to tell you is that you should go to the field and one after the other see each project. Compare all the projects Governor Okorocha did and tell us your own projects; that is what we want to hear. Tell us what you did, side by side with those of Governor Okorocha did. To me, his allegations made no sense.
When I went through Owerri, I saw that the expansion and demolition were quite enormous and Ohakim had said this thing was not captured in the budget. How do you people plan to complete this exercise?
Who told him that it was not captured in the budget? I don’t know where he got the information that the road was not captured. He should go and make his verifications first. Of course, this project will be completed and Governor Okorocha had said it several times that none of his projects would remain uncompleted. He will exit with all his projects fully completed. I think former Governor Ohakim’s problem is that he was not able to manage his money well during his own time. Remember that during his time, the state had more money than now. If we had the kind of money he got, Imo State would have been like London. His problem is that he was not able to manage the money he got then, so because of that, he believes that the mismanagement will still happen in this government.
His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha is a man that manages resources well and the little money we get from the Federal Government and the small one we get internally from the state, he manages it very well. So, he should not fear; let him just keep calm; by 2018 he will clap for this government; he will see those projects completed. We know how to complete projects, including the 27 hospitals; they are almost in 80 per cent completion; it’s remaining only furnishing. I challenge him to go to one of the hospitals; he should stop at the one along Aba/Airport road, which is the one he passes through every day; he should go inside. Most of them are completed; what we need is just to equip them, which we are going to do very soon.
Probably, what moved Ohakim to suggest that the 27 hospitals be converted to cottage industry was because of Governor Okorocha’s slogan of factory-factory. Are you people really building factories or renovating the old ones?
Yes, we have already reclaimed some of the factories that we had in the state; remember the Resin Paint, in Mbaise; we have recovered it; remember the issue of Paper Packaging Industry at Owerre Ebiri; we have recovered it. Many companies are coming to Imo State. Remember His Excellency has been moving from one country to another trying to get investors to come to Imo to put up small scale industries and large industries. On the issue of factory-factory, I still want to let people know that when you say factory-factory, most people believe that until you see a car producing factory, then this is factory-factory. The best factory-factory is the power to start a small scale industry.
Again, there was this news that went viral in the social media that Governor Rochas Okorocha was confronted by a ghost and he developed some health challenges that took him away to India. As an insider, can we know what actually happened or was it just a mere rumour?
When that news and rumour came up, I laughed, I said so people can be that wicked to fabricate that kind of lies against a sitting governor or against another human being. I asked one of my friends, I said you are talking about ghost, is the ghost not afraid of a governor of a state? Do you know what a governor of state is? Do you know that the governor of a state carries the seal of the state and, therefore, the governor of all, including the ghosts, the human beings that are living and human beings that are dead. So, the ghost should be scared of the governor, not to talk of coming close to the governor to slap him. You can see that the governor is back healthy and working 24 hours.